For some time now the identification of injured or unconscious runners or runaway children has been a problem and there have been many attempts to provide identification indicia in various garments worn by such individuals. With respect to both children and runners or other athletes, the utilization of wristbands containing indicia are uncomfortable and are often not used for this reason. Moreover, putting indicia in articles of clothing such as caps which are readily removable and are sometimes uncomfortable suffer from the same disuse. The result is many runners run without any identification whatsoever on their person, much less any indication of their physical health or medical information which might be required. Moreover children in general do not usually carry identification as a routine matter, so that, if lost, there is no ready way to return them to their parents or legal guardians.
In an effort to locate missing children and indeed to identify stricken runners or other athletes having no identification on them, municipalities have resorted to the utilization of fingerprinting in order to provide a means of identification for these individuals. Such is a time consuming process and is somewhat humiliating, degrading or otherwise traumatic for the children involved, if not for the adults.
On the other hand there is one article of clothing which is invariably worn, which does not impede to any great extent the activity of the individual, and is usually necessary to perform whatever activity the individual is involved in. This of course is the shoe or other footwear which, unless the individual is going barefoot, is always worn.
It is however with great difficulty that one is able to provide sufficient labeling on the shoe due to its's flexibility and wear-attacked or abraded parts. Moreover, because the shoe comes into contact with both mud, water and other forms of dirt or debris it is only with difficulty that magic marker labeling is at all effective. Additionally, labeling on any part of the shoe which flexes or comes in contact with the ground is subject to removal or abrasion which makes it relatively useless as a labeling device. In addition to abrasion, any labels that are attached with adhesives are subject to attack by moisture as well as the flexing of the label if mounted on most portions of a shoe or piece of footwear.